Making Charging Easier with 3D Printing

The Eclipse, which takes on the circular form of an eclipsed sun, is a three-port USB hub that has been optimized for several purposes: managing USB charging cables, which almost every household utilizes; charging, as it offers faster charging thanks to innovative IC technology; and style, as it houses cables in a sleek, minimal casing. The useful product was first introduced through a Kickstarter campaign which raised over $900,000. Evidently, cluttered outlets and messy cables are common pet peeves.

“Up to three of your USB cables are wound into their own precision-engineered channel, so you’ll never have to worry about them tangling or overlapping.”

The team at Native Union went through many iterations and design prototypes to arrive at the final product. A crucial part of this prototyping and design process was 3D printing. As Igor Duc, co-founder of Native Union explained, 3D printing was used to test internal parts and mechanisms for the device and allowed the team to rapidly test new ideas. To manufacture prototypes for the Eclipse, the Native Union team relied on their in-house 3D printer and utilized PLA/PVA and TPU/PLA combinations.

“The 3D printing allows us to speed up the process of refinement, and aids in making some tough design decisions, therefore improving the final result,” the studio explained.